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Hide your secret decoder rings, because The Shadow is the Greatest Movie EVER!

Click on the movie poster or the title above to download our review of the film, featuring Katherine the Great.

Review in a Nutshell: Similar to films such as The Phantom and The Rocketeer, The Shadow is a period adventure film featuring action, romance, and a nice sense of style. Some of the CG special effects haven’t aged so well, but the movie is still fun for children of all ages.

Thanks for doing the Shadow, people. I loved this movie when it first came out and was eager to see a sequel. And as Baldwin got older, my hopes faded and faded. Oh, well. I recently rewatched it on Xbox Video and was curious to see if it held up. It did. The shot where Khan is kneeling on the floor and his cloak has the same pattern as the marble tiling, he then stands up and we realise it’s not the pattern that’s moving but him is great cinematography. The bits where Lamont uses his powers in broad daylight with the shade over everything on his face except his eyes is a nice, old school touch. You can tell Mulcahy really loves the mix of old school and new CG filmmaking that was just coming into practise in Hollywood at the time (and then subsequently went nuts with). And yes, I agree some of the CG has not aged very well. The Shadow strikes at the hoodlums on the bridge are good and in Professor Laine’s lab but the fire in the glass, eh, not so good. I still love all the lines like “You know what I like about this job? [Pauses} The excitement.” or “Uncle Wainwright, are you sure you’re not dead?” I love the scene where they are describing their dreams to one another. Hers is sensual and erotic and he simply says “I dreamed I tore all the skin off my face and was someone else underneath” with a completely straight face.

Also, I clearly remember going to see The Shadow in the cinema and myself and my brother being the only ones who laughed at the “it’s all falling into place” line. Clearly the audience did not appreciate this film 🙂

The people who turned up in this film as background actors is interesting. Ethan Phillips played the night guardman who shot himself and went on to play Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager (though, was that really a upward career move?). The assistant curator of the museum was Willie from ALF. Jonathan Winters, who played Lamont’s uncle, played Mork’s son in Mork and Mindy. And the dagger was voiced by Frank Welker. And looking up on imdb, the voice of the Tulku (the monk who redeems Lamont) played the Chamberlain in the Dark Crystal. Wow, really is a great cast on this one.

Paul, I hate you for hating The Dark Knight. But I like you for pointing out the debt Batman owes to the Shadow. Kat, Kat-scary voice is good but you should channel Batman like Paul does. Also, you should the scary voice in court. Denny Crane would be proud of you if you did.

Weird bit of trivia: When Sam Raimi went to get the rights to The Shadow to make into a movie, he found the rights were already being held by the producers of the 1994 film. So he went off and created Darkman in 1990 instead. The 1994 film came out, bombed and was forgotten. Raimi went and did Spiderman and then tried for the rights for the Shadow again. He got them this time and as far as I know, still has them. As of August 2010, Tarantino is slated to direct the new one. But don’t hold your breath for that one. I’m still waiting for him to do that film with Schwarzenegger 😦

Great podcast, folks. If you ever do the Burton Batman’s, let me know. I’d love to do them with you.

That said, for all it’s good points, it isn’t hard to see why it wasn’t a box office success with all the Republic Serial cornyness they shoved into it…the decoder rings especially make me wince.

Still the movie does have it’s great moments, the banter between the Shadow and Margot as he’s telling her she’s not coming, and she’s just talking over him. The looks on Cranston’s and Khan’s faces as their bullets collide in mid-air….

And it’s really unfortunate that these great old characters aren’t better remembered today. Still…

Keith, I’m pretty sure you pitch that movie as a remake of Logan’s Run altered slightly to appeal to teenage girls. The sacred cash cows of the box office, after the sacrificial water buffalo fanboy of course.

I LOVE the podcast, but y’all droppped the ball on this one! AND THIS IS ONE OF MY TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS EVER! If you ever do “Star Trek II: The Wraith Of Kahn” please invite me in {I’m a podcaster on break.} I’m going to have to be a voice in it, because seriously Paul…ouch!
Still love the show thought!
~_M.H._~

Okay, in what way exactly did we “drop the ball”? I thought this podcast turned out rather well, and unless you can offer something more concrete than “ouch”, I’ll have no idea what it is that you’re criticizing.